FCC Set for Possible Partisan Stalemate After Commissioner Rosenworcel Nomination Fails

The US Senate adjourned without confirming Jessica Rosenworcel for a second term on the Federal Communications Commission, forcing her out of office and setting up the agency for a partisan deadlock as the Republican administration of Donald J. Trump begins. Without other changes, the Democrat’s departure would leave the FCC hindered, with two Republicans and two Democrats on the five-member panel, until the Senate can confirm a Republican to gain a majority.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Wheeler, 70, can stay with the commission until 2018 and he hasn’t said when he may leave. In the most recent transfer of power, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, left on Obama’s inauguration day although he had more than two years remaining in his term. Lawmakers had been working on Rosenworcel's confirmation for more than a year. Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said her confirmation was supposed to be part of an agreement struck in 2015 to jointly confirm both a Republican and a Democrat at the same time. Michael O’Rielly received confirmation, but Rosenworcel did not.